River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-05-12

get il by offering me one hundred
dollars for the privilege of reading nv
account of the operations of the army
during the last few days. As did not
accept he offered two hundred, and
! finally he offered me a check for two
hundred and fifty dollars. was
sorely tempted to accept his bride ont
of sheer spite, as the news could have
Deen of little benefit to him, since the
lightning had already carried it over
the wires. / took out my notebook to
make memorandum, and he i'm
mediately took a seat behind me and |
OWNED ut once that his object was to
read the matter | was writing. here
was an opportunity not to be neglected.
so | pretended not to notice him, and
being well informed as regarded the
organization of the army, its corps,
divisions and brigades, with their
respective commanders, | set at WORK
and in as graphic a manner as | was
able, considering the jolting of the
ear, to describe terrible battle alleged
to have taken place on the previous
lay near Charlottesville.
Chapman, with the keen eye of a
lynx copied page after page of my
manuscript. Finally drew from my
haversack an old list of casualties
which had occurred at Bristow Station. |
to which my Imagination supplied |
many names, and added those of |
several general officers, who had no
existence, as being among the killed |
and wounded. Mr.. Chapman's paper,
in its next issue, contained a glowing |
account of sanguinary battle, with
list of killed and wounded not to be found /
on the Adjutant Generals muster-rolls.
TO cap the climax an elaporate map of
the country around Charlottesville
was published, showing the respective
positions of the forces engaged.
L. c. Gray and myself were chums,
and shared the same blanket, drank
from the same canteen, and whenever
it was possible we rode about camp
and ON marches together Banks
were not always accessible, and when
ever either was short of funds the other
came to the rescue, Still, Gray could
not be induced to give away or ex-
change an item of important news. In
the autumn of 1864 after General Sheri-
dan had dislodged the force under Early
from Fishers Hill in the Shenandoah
Valley, our troops followed the retreat
ing Confederates as far as Port Repub-
lie, in Rockingham county, at which
point they made their escape into Lu-
ray Valley through Rochfish gap, in
the Blue Ridge. | rode back to
Harpers Ferry, about one hundred and
twenty-five miles, Judge, us the crow
flies. to get the news through to New
York. Gray had not been to the front,
but he had just returned from Washing
ton. Still, he had managed to pick up
some general information from the
cavalry escort which had accompanied.
Gray appreciated the fact that he was
badly beaten, but he resorted to IL trick
to prevent me from getting my news
over the wires. He rushed to the tel
egraph station and obtained possession
of the wires and began to write up and
send off the little "reliable news fur
nished by an intelligent contraband,
to borrow an old army phrase. Know
ing he had absolutely nothing of inn
portance, begged him to give way to
me, for was hungry and trayel-worn
having been almost constantly in the
saddle for nearly a week, but he merely
laughed at me and vowed he would hold
the wire until midnight at any cost and
he produced a pocket Bible and declared
his intention to transmit the entire chap
ter of Genesis before he would give way
to another paper. | lost little time in
protesting, for knew Gray would keep
his word, and without saying anything
to the ''boys' who were watching the
situation with a good deal of amuse-
ment at my expense, went quietly to
Captain George A. Flagg, post quarter
master, and borrowed horse, my own
being used up, and rode to Frederick
City, Maryland, some seventeen miles
distant, and reached there in time to
send full account of Sheridan
operations to my paper. The boys
looked tired when they found out that |
had published the only full account of
Early's rctreat-F. c. LONG, in Phild-
deLphia Press.